Haslemere Educational Museum was founded in 1888 by Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, an eminent London surgeon and philanthropist. He had set up a country home in the town when the railway was extended there in 1859, and was inspired to establish a museum for the community.

His vision, as recorded by Ernest Swanton, the museum’s first curator, was not to create a “museum of Haslemere” but rather a “museum for Haslemere”. Rather than dwelling on matters of purely local concern, the museum offers a whistle-stop tour through natural history, geology and human history, from the Big Bang to the present. According to Kay Topping, the education officer, the result was – and still is – “like a mini British Museum”.

Now this small museum with a big vision is being thrust into the spotlight. We are proud to announce that Haslemere Educational Museum has won the 2012 Sunday Telegraph Family Friendly Museums Award, the biggest award of its kind. Our readers magnificently put forward more than 600 nominations, and judges selected a shortlist of six. A family chose the winner.

Haslemere Museum, rather remarkably, has both preserved Hutchinson’s original ethos and made it relevant to the children of today. Matthew Arnold, the pre-eminent Victorian man of letters, saw the purpose of education as “to instruct and delight”. Hutchinson clearly shared these beliefs, placing great emphasis on engaging the imagination. These days, we would call this “interactive learning”.

Wonderfully, interactivity at the modern-day museum is not about pressing buttons, but actually handling the exhibits. An afternoon at Haslemere means holding a real dinosaur bone – no exaggeration – and cuddling Arthur, a stuffed bear who is more than 125 years old.

Related Articles

The extensive and beautiful garden has lots of space for picnics, while children can search for “mini beasts” in the pond, and watch bees at work in a specially adapted hive.

The museum has three galleries and two rooms for temporary exhibitions, as well as a library and an archive of local history. Upon entering the elegant Georgian building, children are immediately armed with a magnifying glass – which, according to Topping, increases their ability to concentrate – and a backpack of questionnaires and other materials. Then they can run off and explore (there are lots of costumes for dressing up).

The natural history gallery is a cornucopia of Victorian taxidermy, which in children provokes a morbid and reverential fascination. A giant Japanese crab stands poised in a glass case. An 11,000-year-old Irish elk’s skull is mounted on the wall, with antlers spanning a full four feet. There are hippopotamus skulls, inflated puffer fish, and drawers containing cases of brightly coloured butterflies on pins. “Children often develop a strong attachment to certain exhibits,” says Tanner. “Some families return again and again so that their kids can commune with the crab or the bear.”

The centrepiece of the human history gallery – indeed, of the museum itself – is Pa-er-abu, the 3,000-year-old mummified man, who lies in state with his tea-coloured toes exposed. Haslemere has won awards for its ancient Egyptian exhibition, and regularly attracts school visits from around the country. Having a single mummy for children to focus on, says Tanner, can be more effective than overwhelming them with many, as can be the case at the British Museum.

One boggling addition is a life-size human, made out of stuffed cotton, which has removable entrails. Children can mummify the “corpse” using crochet hooks, and entomb it with ritual objects. This includes a genuine ushabti, an ancient Egyptian funereal figurine, dating from three millennia ago, which they are allowed to handle.

Haslemere Educational Museum was one of the smallest museums on the shortlist. This is reflected in its culture; there are just two full-time employees (one of whom lives next door), and admission is “by donation only”. This friendly, accessible feel enables children to engage even more effectively.

An unswerving devotion to Hutchinson’s original vision, coupled with the exceptional dedication of the staff, has endowed this museum with a singular power to both instruct and to delight. It is a thoroughly worthy winner.

Join the Junior Club on Thursday, June 7 to go dipping in the museum’s pond. On Friday, June 8 there’s a free family Fantastic Fossils event where you can handle real fossils and make plaster ones to take home. There’s also a Kings and Queens trail to celebrate the Jubilee. Brixham Heritage Museum, Devon, 01803 856267; brixhammuseum.org.uk. Learn rope making or flint knapping, or win a prize in the children’s Ice Age Painting Competition. On Wednesday, June 6 there’s a free family archaeological dig, when children assist the museum’s team to investigate a site littered with finds from prehistoric times to the Second World War.

Join an arts and crafts workshop. You can create pop-up books, commemorative gifts for the Jubilee, or an Olympic board game. Storytellers will share the secret of how the 1948 Olympic marathon changed the sport forever.

Take a seat on the magic carpet on Wednesday, June 6 and learn about the fantastic things throughout the museum – from dinosaurs to Dolly the sheep – through songs and activities. Friday, June 8 is Gallery Safari day, where you can learn how to make your own nature count at home.

It’s never too late to party! From Wednesday, June 6 you can create your own Jubilee celebrations at the gallery, making Jubilee paper bunting for your bedroom, flags for your front door and hats for the party tea. Teenagers might like to join the ArtForum.

See millions of years of the Earth’s history through thousands of exhibits you can touch, from a hippopotamus skull to tiny seeds. Look out for the ancient Egypt gallery with some of Europe’s finest mummies. Or blast off to the future on a journey through space and time in the daily planetarium shows.

Sandra: “There’s no ‘Don’t Touch!’ They’ve got drawers of butterflies and insects which you can open and close. The volunteers couldn’t have been more welcoming. And as we were going out, my seven year-old said he wanted to have a look at the shop, but it was closing. The assistant heard, pulled away the barrier and said, ‘No problem – go and have a look!’ Another volunteer told us about Hype, the museum’s teenagers’ club, and their photography project. It’s a little haven.”

Lottie: “I liked the Junior Club workshop, where we made Egyptian things and batik. I really like the animals. They’ve got lions and a really big brown bear and an antelope and buffaloes. There’s some you’re allowed to touch.”

Sam: “I liked the workshop, making knots and stuff. I really like knots. They’ve got quite a lot of displays about space stuff and the dinosaurs. You have to put your hand in a hole and guess which bit of a dinosaur you’re feeling. There’s a model of the Earth, moon and sun. When you press the button they all orbit around each other and show the seasons.”

7th June: Please note that the founder of Haslemere Educational Museum was Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, not Sir Jonathan Hutchison. This error has been rectified, with our apologies.